1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a lining or decorative board applied to an interior portion of an automotive vehicle, such as, a ceiling panel, body panel, door panel, trunk wall or the like, and to a method of producing such lining.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Hitherto, various types of linings or decorative board for automotive interiors have been proposed and put into practical use. Some of them are disclosed in Japanese Patent First Provisional Publications 3-21443, 3-130450, 4-126860 and 6-257053. The lining of these publications comprises mixed fibers of higher and lower melting points which art shaped or pressed into a board by melting the lower melting point fibers. That is, for producing the lining of 3-21443 publication, an upper web layer including mixed fibers of higher and lower melting points is put on a somewhat higher density lower web layer including mixed fibers of higher and lower melting points. Needle punching is applied to the entire of the upper and lower web layers to interwind or entangle the fibers of the layers and then the entire of the two layers is pressed while being heated at a temperature sufficient to melt only the lower melting point fibers. In case of the lining of 3-130450 publication, an upper web including mixed fibers of higher and lower melting points is subjected to a needle punching to provide a napped lower surface. A lower web including mixed fibers of higher and lower melting points is fitted to the napped lower surface of the upper web and the whole of the upper and lower webs is heated to melt the lower melting point fibers. In case of the lining of 4-126860 publication, a web including mixed fibers of higher and lower melting points is heated and subjected to a combing process to be shaped. In case of the lining of 6-257053, a mat including mixed fibers of higher and lower melting points is needled and applied on each surface thereof with an aqueous emulsion of plastic. The mat is then heated and pressed with a temperature sufficient to melt the lower melting point fibers and cure the emulsion.
However, the linings produced in the above-mentioned conventional methods have failed to give users satisfaction due to their poor quality. In fact, some of them are easily soiled due to static electricity inevitably generated thereon and some of them tend to produce noise when used on the interior portion of a motor vehicle.